Wi-Fi-enabled scale tweets your weight to the world

Now the planet will know if you're shed a few pounds—or packed on a few, for that matter.

The L.A. Times tech blog has the scoop on the Wi-Fi Body Scale, a $159 bathroom scale that went on sale a few weeks ago and has just added the ability to share your results—for better or worse—via Twitter.

Here's how it works: Once you step onto the metal-and-tempered-glass scale, the device instantly displays your weight on a backlit LCD and (gulp) calculates your lean mass, your fat mass, and your overall Body Mass Index (or BMI).

The Body Scale then taps into your home Wi-Fi network and updates your latest results on a Web-based "dashboard," complete with a graph that tracks your progress (or lack thereof) over time. The scale can track up to eight different people at any given time, and there's even a Body Scale iPhone app so you can gloat and/or torture yourself while you're out and about.

So far, so good, but here comes to kicker: The scale can now (if you wish) tweet your weight and BMI results to your followers, or indeed, to anyone on Twitter who's paying attention.

Personally, I don't know anyone who's all that keen about sharing their current weight with ... well, anybody, much less the entire planet.

Then again, if you're really serious about losing weight, there's no better incentive than the knowledge that the world is watching.

So, what do you think: Anyone out there ready to install a Twitter-happy scale on their bathroom floor?

Related:
Twitter-equipped bathroom scale tells the world how much you weigh [L.A. Times tech blog]